Smarter Commercials

I just saw on TV a commercial for AT&T highspeed internet. Basically the commercial was trying to convince me that their service is faster than whatever service I have and that I should make the switch. But here is the thing. I already have my internet from AT&T. In fact they provide my cable as well.

I feel that if I am going to see a commercial or ad, it might as well be pertinent to my life. This is why I don't mind the targeted ads online. Online advertisers have figured out the game. An ad tailored to the viewer is more likely to result in a sale.

With modern digital cable it is more and more possible to customize commercials to the viewers.

It would require cooperation between the cable providers and the television networks. The providers would need to put forward the technology backbone and the networks would need to change they pitch themselves to potential advertisers.

Let's imagine a hypothetical toy retailer. They are looking to expand their advertising. They already have commercials on all the channels specifically targeting kids. They have a choice between two networks. Network A will just try to show their commercial to all viewers and charge accordingly. Network B will only show the commercial to some viewers, but can get away with charging less (because they can show other commercials to other viewers). The catch is that network B will be showing their commercial specifically to families that have a history of watching kid friendly networking.

It would be simple for cable companies to collect viewing histories to help target commercials. Combine this with other traditional ways of collecting information (like browser cookies) and commercials could be shockingly well targeted.

How effective is it to show commercials for feminine hygiene products to a bachelor, or toy commercials to someone without kids? What if you could be confident that commercials for retirement planning would be showed to people in the age range that they would be considering retirement?

That AT&T commercial, rather than trying to sell me their internet, instead could have been a commercial thanking me for using their service.  Imagine seeing a commercial along the lines of "Thank you for using XXXX as your cell phone service provider. We are dedicated to giving you the best service at the lowest price possible. As always, if you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact us." No information would even need to be gathered for such a commercial. The cellphone company would just need to cross-reference their customer database with the customers of whichever cable services have these 'smarter commercials' in order to figure out who to target.

There is not much preventing this from becoming a reality. There would likely need to be some additional technical upgrades made to existing cable systems, but I think the increased efficiency in advertising would more than make up for the cost. The biggest concern many people may have is the 'invasion of privacy.' The thing is companies don't need to gather any additional information. Referring back to the opening of this post, presumably AT&T knows I receive my internet through them. Is it an invasion of my privacy if they use this information that they already know to customize a commercial for me? Once again, ultimately, if I am going to be watching a commercial, it might as well be pertinent to my life.